Riddle's Revenge
by Crystalstarr80
Summary: The story begins in Albus's first year at Hogwarts. Despite Voldemort's death, Hogwarts is not yet at peace. There has a new student arrived that is up to no good. My story will be on hiatus for awhile
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters, They belong to J.K. Rowling, i just like to play with them.

 **Prologue**

Once the train had pulled into the station, James and Rose rushed off the train with Albus following close behind. Albus felt as if the air was thick with anticipation, not knowing what to expect from his first year at Hogwarts. As he peered hb into the steam that filled the platform, a very large figure started to emerge. This could be no one other than Hagrid, he thought to himself. All of a sudden the figure bellowed out of the steam:

"This way first year students, follow me!''As he was about to turn around, Hagrid glanced down and noticed Albus.

'Hi Albus, you ready for your first year?'

''No'', Albus says with a nervous smile.

The group followed Hagrid down to the docks where a dozen rowboats awaited them.

"Here, you'll want this", Hagrid said to Albus, and handed him a stick with a small candle hanging off the end of it.

"Thanks."

Everyone climbed into their boats and they set off across the water. Albus had been fiddling around with the candlestick that Hagrid had given to him when he finally looked up. His stomach clenched up in a mix of excitement and nerves when he saw Hogwarts towering over him in all its glory. Albus had never seen such a grand building in all his life.

Hagrid opened the great big, wooden doors into the school and the students

gasped at the grand hall that greeted them. Just as Albus stepped inside, a balloon flew out of nowhere and hit him right in the face with a loud smack. Albus peeled the balloon off his face and looked around, rather shocked at this unexpected incident.

"Who threw that balloon in my face?'' Albus exclaimed, a little taken aback by the incident. Just then, Peeves flew by with a cheeky grin across his face. He looked Albus straight in the eyes, stuck his tongue out at him, and flew off.

Headmistress McGonagall came walking towards the group of the new first year students.

'Welcome to Hogwarts", she announced over the crowd. "You will soon be sorted into your houses", McGonagall swiftly turned around and strode off into the dimly lit hall.

"Are you Harry Potter's son?" said a sly voice from behind Albus. "I'm Noah Ryan".

"Yes, I'm Albus Severus Potter", he said as he shook Noah's hand.

"Alright students, it is now time to assign you to your houses", said McGonagall, who had returned to the hall. "Follow me".

She led them into a large dining hall, which was lit up by candles floating around in the air. All the students huddled round in the centre of the room.

"All students will be assigned to either Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Without further adieu, let us begin. When I call your name you shall step forward and place the sorting hat upon your head."

"Albus Severus Potter."

Albus looks around, hoping it is not his name that is being called. The crowd starts to murmur. People are looking around at each other, wondering where the person that has just been called is. Albus ducks down behind a rather large girl who is also wondering where this person may be.

"Albus Severus Potter!" McGonagall repeats in a raised voice.

Albus sees no way around it, so he steps forward, staring intensly at his shoes as he walks to the front of the crowd. Albus plots himself down on the stool and the sorting hat is placed on his head.

"Well now, what do we have here, another Potter!" The hat bellows "So where should I place you?"

"Not Slytherin", Albus whispers.

"Not Slytherin? Your father didn't want to be put in Slytherin either, you know. I went against my gut feeling back then, but I am not going to do it again." Albus' heart sinks.

"Slytherin!" the hat calls out. Albus can feel all the blood drain from his face.

He forces himself to stand up, frantically searching for his brother James in the crowd. He finally locks eyes with him. James gave him a faint smile. As Albus walked by on his way over to the Slytherin table, James stands up and embraces him in a tight hug. Albus makes his way over to his assigned house and slumps down on the bench, burying his face in his arms.

 _This is not how my first day was supposed to go_ , he thought to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

"Scorpius Malfoy", McGonagall calls out.

A slender, blond haired boy walked out of the crowd wearing a smug grin across his face. He walked confidently up to the chair and sat down. Before the hat had even touched his head, it called out.

"Slytherin!"

The crowd cheered and Scorpius walked swiftly over to the Slytherin table and planted himself next to Albus on the bench. He turned to Albus and said "I see they have finally placed a Potter in the right house."

"And I see they have kept their tradition with the Malfoys", Albus shot back.

"Noah Ryan", McGonagall went on.

The boy that had introduced himself to Albus earlier moved through the crowd and sat down on the chair. Once the hat had been placed upon Noah's wavy brown hair, it called out.

"Slytherin!"

Noah peered out from under the hat, catching Albus' gaze with his piercing red eyes. A smile started to spread across his face and he headed over to the Slytherin table where Albus, Scorpius, and all the other housemates are sitting.

"Hi, nice to meet you", Noah said with an outstretched hand towards Scorpius.

Scorpius shook his hand, but as soon as he touched Noah, ice cold chills went shooting down his spine. He pulled his hand back and nervously retreated back into his seat. McGonagall was standing at the front of the hall with a glass in her hand, tapping it ever so slightly to get everyone's attention.

"Now that everyone has been sorted into their houses, we can let the feast begin!"

Albus looked around at his new housemates. He was a little confused as to what feast McGonagall was referring to, seeing as there was no food on the tables. Just as he was about to open his mouth and point out this obvious fact, food started to appear on every plate on the table. Noah threw his hands up in surprise. The table was full of all kinds of delicious food. Chicken drumsticks piled into a neat pyramid, fried potatoes drizzled with brown sauce, and steaks filled the table.

Albus started tucking in to the delicious food that had appeared, stuffing as many roasted potatoes in his mouth as he could. Just then he noticed that four ghosts came swooping in from the corner. One was holding a sword in one hand and had a large blood stain down the front of his clothes. Albus looked around at the ghosts in amazement, having never seen a real ghost before. In one of the corners of the hall, he noticed a fifth ghost. It was standing in the dark looking out over the students who were enjoying the meal. Albus couldn't make out the face of the ghost but he had a strange feeling that he was being watched. The warm glow from the candles hovering above the table cast a small amount of light on the the mysterious fifth ghost. Albus noticed that the ghost had a bite mark on its neck and there was blood seeping out and down on to his clothes.

While all the students filled up on the food, Albus remained quite aware of the fifth ghost lingering in the corner. An older boy stood up and introduced himself to the Slytherin table as Blaise Legend.

"I will be showing you around the Slytherin dorm", Blaise went on.

All the first year students were rising out of their seats and walking towards the grand doors they had entered in through a few hours earlier. Blaise was at the front of the group.

"Slytherin students, follow me!" Blaise called out as they entered into a large stairwell filled with paintings on all the walls. When Albus looked closer at the paintings, he noticed that they were all moving. One of the paintings looked straight at him and gave him a friendly wave from inside the frame.

"Be watchful of the stairs, they like to move about", Blaise said as he started down one of the staircases. Albus looked up towards the ceiling and saw that some of the staircases were indeed changing positions. Albus taped Scorpius' shoulder.

"Look! They are actually moving about!" he said in amazement, pointing towards the moving staircases above their heads. Scorpius glances upwards and gives Albus a shrug seeming utterly uninterested. The Slytherin group, lead by Blaise, heads down towards the dungeon of Hogwarts Castle.

Down in the dungeon, Blaise brings the group to a halt in front of a large brick wall. Albus couldn't see that there was anything particularly special about this wall and wondered why they had stopped here.

"Bloody Baron", Blaise muttered in the direction of the wall. As soon as the words had left his mouth, a rumbling sound started up from behind the wall and it swung open.

"What's happening?" Albus said, looking nervously over at Noah who was standing next to him.

"I know as much as you do about this place, which isn't much", he replies with his eyebrows raised.

"Follow me. Quickly now!" Blaise calls out as he walks briskly in through the doorway that had appeared behind the brick wall. Albus scurries in with Noah following close behind him. The room was lit up by a greenish glow coming from the lamps that were scattered around the room.

"This is the Slytherin common room" Blais announced. "Boys, you will find that your dorms are through the passageway to your left, and girls are to the right."

Albus, Noah and Scorpius, along with the other boys in Slytherin went down the passageway to their left. They found that their belongings had already been placed neatly next to each bed. Exhausted from a whirlwind of a day, Albus collapsed onto his bed. His laid in bed and wandered about what awaited him tomorrow. The thought of the first day of classes made his stomach churn in a mixture of nerves and excitement.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

Albus woke up to his stomach growling. He sat up and looked over at his watch on the bedside table. A wave of panic washed over him as he realized he was already late for his first class on his very first day. He shot out of bed and started shaking Noah, who was peacefully snoring away in his own bed.

"Noah! Get up!"

"Get off!" Noah said as he pulled the covers over his head.

"Noah! We're late!" Albus said, failing to hide the panic in his voice.

At this, Noah jumped out of bed. Without saying a word, he started pulling his clothes on while simultaneously heading for the door. They ran down the empty corridors and arrived at the classroom door 20 minutes late. As they took a seat at the back of the class, Albus caught Scorpius' eye. He shook his head at Albus and Noah as they were pouring with sweat. Albus could hardly endure the embarrassment of having shown up late for his very first class at Hogwarts. He stared intensely down at his desk hoping that no one noticed their late arrival. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a tall figure approaching towards him. He assumed the tall figure must be the professor.

"Well now, who do we have here? A pair of latecomers", the figure said. "Did it somehow fail in your upbringing to teach the two of you how to read a clock?" The man spat out in a raised voice.

Albus' heart was pounding so hard that he heard the blood rushing in his ears. He finally forced himself to look up and face the professor. To Albus' surprise, he recognized the man standing before him. This, however, was not a pleasant surprise. The defense against the dark arts professor was none other than Draco Malfoy.

"We are only a little bit late", Noah said in their defence. He was sitting with his arms crossed, seeming utterly unfazed by the situation.

"A little bit late is still late, and latecomers will not be tolerated in my classroom", Malfoy hissed. "The three of you will have to report to the headmistress' office at the end of class", he continued on, gesturing towards Albus, Noah and Scorpius.

"Me?! What did I do, father?" Scorpius said, staring at Malfoy in complete disbelief.

Malfoy turned around swiftly and gave Scorpius a stern look, signaling to him not to challenge his authority. At this, Scorpius looked down at his hands and tried to bottle up his outrage.

"Now, since you were only a little bit late, the two of you can show the rest of us your wand lighting charm", Malfoy said with a slight grin across his face.

Albus looked over at Noah who was already pulling out his wand. As he did so, he muttered _lumos_ and a light appeared at the end of his wand. Now everyones attention was on Albus. He fumbled around in his cloak looking for his wand. He felt its handle and pulled it out.

"Lumos", he whispered towards the wand. Nothing happened. The classroom was deadly silent except for a few whispers towards the front.

"Lumos", he tried again, this time a little bit louder. A ever so tiny speck of light appeared at the end of his wand, which flickered a little, then went out again. Albus' embarrassment started to show as his face grew redder with every second. He shrinks back down into his seat wishing he could just disappear.

"I have seldom been so under impressed in my life", Malfoy said. "Let us get on with the class." He turned on his heels and walked briskly towards the front of the classroom where he sat down at a large wooden desk. Albus saw him start to scribble something down on a piece of paper. He then slipped it into a neat envelope. In slightly larger letters, Malfoy wrote the address on the front of the envelope. Albus could just make out the first line which read _Harry Potter_. Through the open window on the far east side of the room, an owl comes swooping in, landing gently on Malfoy's shoulder. He hands the letter to the owl, who takes it in his beak and disappears out the window just as swiftly as it had come in. _My first day and dad is already going to be receiving a letter from the school_ , Albus thought. He sank even further down into his chair.

Malfoy then picked up another blank piece of paper and started scribbling down on that one as well. The silence in the classroom was making Albus extremely uncomfortable. On the front of the second letter, it read _McGonagall_. Malfoy walked across the room heading for Albus' desk.

"Take this with you after class", he said as he handed Albus the letter addressed to the headmistress.

He then proceeded to hand the other two boys a letter, both of which were addressed to McGonagall. Scorpius gave out a unnaturally loud huff as Malfoy placed one of the letters on his desk. Malfoy glanced back at the two boys sitting at the back of the classroom. He noticed that Noah's eyes looked strangely familiar. A chill ran down his spine when he realized who Noah reminded him of. The boy sitting in front of him with a red tinge to his eyes seemed a lot more harmless than the man who had caused so much disruption to Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort.

Stunned and numb with disbelief at this realization, he quickly picked up his pen again and wrote a second letter addressed to Harry Potter. He then whistled for his own owl which came fluttering in. When he placed the letter in the owl's beak, Albus noticed it had been stamped with _Strictly confidential._

Scorpius had clearly noticed this as well and stared at his father with a questioning look upon his face. When he got no reaction from his father, he turned around to look at Albus who seemed equally puzzled. Albus looks over at Noah, who was staring straight at Malfoy. A grin started to spread across his face. Malfoy was staring intensly down at his desk as old memories of Voldemort came flooding back to him. His blood ran cold thinking of the days when Voldemort was alive. Malfoy looked down at his inner left forearm where the dark mark remained on his skin. He started rubbing at it as if rubbing it away would cause his memories of those dark times to vanish. He tried to shake away the thoughts and go back to his lecture. He stood up, took a deep breath and went on with the class.

"Everyone take out the book which I expect you all brought with you", Malfoy said, giving the two boys at the back an accusatory look. "Start reading the first chapter on the basics in defense of the dark arts."

Albus' heart sunk. How could he have been late and now he had forgotten the book as well. Just as Albus was on the verge of giving up and leaving the classroom, Scorpius pushes his textbook between the two of them.

"Make sure to bring it next time", Scorpius whispered.

Noah, who was sitting on the other side of Albus had clearly forgotten his book as well. He reached over and pulled the book slightly more towards the middle, taking advantage of Scorpius' gesture. Albus could see a pang of annoyance in Scorpius' eye. But without making a fuss, he started reading off the pages. Finally, what had felt like the longest class of their lifetime came to an end. The three boys stood up, all eager to get out of the classroom.

"Scorpius", Malfoy's voice bellowed. "You wait here for a minute."

"Me?!" Scorpius replied. "Why me?"

"Because I need to talk to you", his father replied.

Once the classroom was empty, Malfoy slipped his wand out of his pocket and locked the classroom door.

"What's going on?" Scorpius asked.

"How well do you know that Noah fellow?" he asked, ignoring Scorpius' question.

"Not well at all, why?"

"I'm not sure, I just got a bad feeling about that boy, he reminded me of..." His voice trailed off.

"Reminded you of who, father?"

Instead of answering Scorpius' question, Malfoy wrapped his arms around him and gave him a good squeeze.

"We'll be fine son", he said to Scorpius, who had no idea of what his father was on about. "Well now, you better get going to your other classes", he said hastily, releasing his embrace.

"Father, what's going on?" Scorpius asked.

"Go along", Malfoy answered. "You don't want to be late now."

Out in the corridor, Albus had run into James who was on his way to Malfoy's class.

"What's up?" James asked Albus in a chipper voice.

"Well, I have to go to McGonagall's office."

"How did you manage that? You've only been here for a day", his brother replied, fuming at the fact that Albus had managed to get into trouble so quickly.

"It wasn't my fault! I was only a few minutes late, and Malfoy obviously doesn't like me!", he said, feeling even more ashamed of himself for sleeping in on his first day.

"Is he sending you to the headmistress office just because you were late?" James asked, astonished. "We will have to teach him, won't we?" he went on.

Albus could tell his brother was plotting some sort of revenge on Malfoy by the smirk on his face. He pleaded to his brother.

"No, James, please don't!"

"Oh, don't worry", James said ruffling Albus' hair, which he knew he hated.

"Get off!" Albus said, his annoyance towards Malfoy quickly shifting towards his brother.

James gave him a quick smile, then headed off down the corridor.

"Hey, just don't do anything" , Albus called after him in vain. Without acknowledging his brother's pleas, James disappeared into the classroom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

"What did you just put on the doorknob?" Rose asked, as she and James took their seats in Malfoy's classroom.

"Oh you know...nothing", he replied with a smile on his face.

"What have you done now?" Rose said with a sigh and sat herself down on the seat beside him.

"You'll see", he replied.

Malfoy stood up and was about to start his lecture. He noticed that the door was open so he took out his wand to shut it. Nothing happened. A little puzzled, he walked over to the door, grabbed the handle and slammed it shut. However, once he tried to let go, his hand would not come away from the doorknob.

"Who did this?" Malfoy yelled over the classroom. "James Sirius Potter!" he called out.

James couldn't help but laugh at Malfoy, who was furiously trying to shake his hand loose from the door handle. Malfoy pointed his wand at the handle, uttered a spell and the doorknob turned to dust, which floated down to the floor.

"You get over here, right now!" Malfoy yelled at James.

The whole classroom was now giggling at the events that were unfolding, except for Rose, who was not amused by James' prank. As he stood up, he gave the classroom a deep bow, as if he had put on an award-winning show. The whole room burst out laughing. Malfoy rushed over and pulled James out of the room by his ear. James squealed with pain as he hobbled out alongside Malfoy.

Malfoy was dragging James down the hallway when Harry Potter appeared from around the corner carrying a dozen brooms on his shoulder.

"What's going on here?" Harry asked, taken aback by the sight of his son and Malfoy. Once he realized that James and Malfoy were not exchanging pleasantries in the corridor, he let out a loud sigh.

"So what happened here?" he asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

Just as Malfoy was about to answer, an owl came fluttering down the hall, landing on Harry's shoulder. In its beak, it had one of the letters that Malfoy had written earlier. Harry took the letter from its beak and proceeded to open it. Once he had scanned the letter, he peered over the edge of the paper at James.

"Both of you?" he sighed. "It's only your first day back."

Before anyone could say another word, the second owl came fluttering in with yet another letter addressed to Harry. Displeased by this wave of bad news, Harry took the letter and gave it a glance. Once he saw the red stamp on the envelope, he quickly stuffed it into his robe.

"I'll walk with you", Harry said to them.

Realizing he was still grasping James' ear, Malfoy let go. James started rubbing his ear, staring at his father like a wounded deer.

"Come on then", Harry said, ignoring his son's acting skills and tugging at James' shirt.

James gives out a slight grunt in protest, but gives in and follows the two men down the corridor.

On the other side of the school, Albus could feel his hands break out into a nervous, cold sweat. The three of them walked down the gargoyle corridor towards McGonagall's office. At the end of the corridor, there was a large gargoyle statue.

"Oh no, I can't remember the password", Albus said once they approach the gargoyle.

"Well, I don't remember it", Scorpius said.

"It has something to do with the cat she transfigures into, right?" Noah said, trying to recall what they had been told at orientation.

"Yeah, you're right...but what is it?" Albus mumbles, wracking his brain.

"Lucy", Scorpius said, softly and the gargoyle started to rumble.

The gargoyle rolled to the side and a spiral staircase appeared behind it. Albus swallowed, as they trudged up the stairs. At the top of the stairs an office door was open. McGonagall was sitting behind a large desk, writing away on a piece of paper. When she did not seem to notice the three boys, Noah cleared his throat in a deliberate manner. McGonagall goes on writing. Now it is Scorpius' turn. He knocks on the heavy wood door.

"Excuse me", he manages to mutter.

"Well, don't just stand there", she said. "Come on in."

The boys stepped inside and Albus peered up at the walls, which were covered in paintings of previous headmasters and headmistresses. Albus looked around at all the grand pictures, when his eyes landed upon a nametag with his name on it. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and then came to the realization that it wasn't in fact his name. The name tag read _Albus Dumbledore._ Above the name hung a picture of the headmaster that Albus was named after. Dumbledore's kind eyes met his own as the late headmaster waved at him from within the frame mouthing out a greeting to Albus. Albus felt very shy all of a sudden and mumbled a greeting back at the painting. Next to Dumbledore hung a picture of yet another headmaster that Albus was named after. Severus Snape did not have the same kind look upon his face as Dumbledore had. Rather, he had an inquiring gaze, as if he were trying to figure out what the three boys were up to. Feeling slightly uncomfortable with these two men from within the frames staring at him, Albus muttered "hey, I'm Albus Severus Potter."

At this, Professor Snape's inquiring look quickly changed into one of shock.

"What?" Snape's painting gasped. "Come closer", he said, staring at Albus.

"Me?", Albus asked looking around at the others.

Albus took a few steps closer to the painting, not knowing what to expect from this unusual interaction.

"How come you have my name?", Snape asked, towering over Albus.

"My father named me in honour of you", Albus replied. "He claims you are one of the bravest men he ever knew."

"Me?" Snape said. "No, it can't be me, you must be mistaken, boy. "

Just as Albus was about to reply that he most certainly was not mistaken, Snape walked off and disappeared out of the frame.

"Don't worry", Albus heard Dumbledore say from the next frame over. "He'll be fine, it will just take a while to sink in."

McGonagall cleared her throat with one eyebrow raised, observing the conversation that Albus had been engaging in for the past few minutes.

"Well, what are you here for?" she asked impatiently.

The three boys sheepishly handed her the letters from Malfoy. Letting out a long sigh, McGonagall takes the letters from them and starts to read through the pages.

"Your first day and you're already coming late to class", she said, peering over her glasses. "You're quite like your father, you know." She took a dramatic pause before she went on. "I remember quite well a time when your father and his friend, Ron Weasley, came in late to my transfiguration class in their first year."

Albus started to perk up and become interested. He was always trying to find out more about what his father had gotten up to when he was at Hogwarts.

"I will let you boys off this time with a warning. However, I do not want to see any of you back in my office anytime soon", she said sternly.

Albus' stomach gave out a loud gurgling sound. He was going to have to have some breakfast soon, otherwise his stomach would never stop growling.

"Did you boys not have time to eat?" Without waiting for an answer, McGonagall took up her wand and conjured up two cups of warm tea and a plate of biscuits. "Have some", she said to Albus and Noah, "and then you'll have to hurry on to your next class, I suppose."

Noah sat down on one of the chairs in front of McGonagall's desk and started stuffing biscuits in his mouth.

"Thanks", he sputtered, spraying a few crumbs onto the desk.

"You can slow down a little", McGonagall said, sweeping away the soggy crumbs that had landed on some of the letters she had been working on earlier that morning.

Albus joined Noah and they quickly devoured all the biscuits and washed it down with the warm tea. Once they had finished, Albus leaned back in his chair and laid a hand on his stomach. McGonagall looked at the boys, who both had biscuit remains smeared around their mouths. She shook her head and picked up a couple of napkins which she handed to the boys. Dumbledore, who had been observing the boys, gave out a slight chuckle as they wiped off their faces.

"Well, you better get going", McGonagall said, as she looked down at their timetable which she had laying on her desk. "You wouldn't want to be late for your father's flying class now, would you?"

Albus looks over at Noah and then back at McGonagall in surprise.

"My father?" he asked.

"Yes, your father", McGonagall answered. "He teaches flying lessons on Mondays and Tuesdays. Were you not aware of that?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No", Albus replied. "I thought he was the head of the Auror office for the Ministry of Magic."

"Yes, well he is that as well, but he comes to Hogwarts twice a week to teach flying lessons, as well as alternating Thursdays", McGonagall explained. "But hurry on now."

The boys stood up and thanked McGonagall for the snack and started heading for the door. Once the boys got into the stairwell, they saw three figures coming towards them.

"Hi dad", Albus called out when he saw his father coming up the stairs with James, following close on his heels. "How are you?" he asked.

Harry was startled by the sound of Albus' voice. He looked at his son and brushed a few crumbs from his cheek and off his robe. Albus pushed his father's hand away in protest.

"What on earth are you doing here?" he asked with a look of disappointment on his face. "And why are you covered in crumbs?"

"It was nothing", Albus replied, trying to avoid the question.

Skeptical of Albus' answer, Harry gave him a good long stare to try and get more information out of him.

"Stop staring like that!" Albus said, annoyed at his father's tactics. "And by the way, I thought you were head of the auror office for the Ministry of Magic", Albus said, changing the subject.

"I am", Harry replied, "but I also teach flying lessons here. Did I forget to mention that?"

"You most certainly did", Albus said, feeling slightly annoyed that he was only learning this information now.

"I love flying, you know that. The feeling of being free from everything and everyone as you glide through the skies..."

"Okay, I got it, I'll see you later", Albus said, cutting his father off.

Albus, Scorpius and Noah scurried off down the stairs leaving Harry, James and Malfoy behind.

"Bye then", James whispered and tried to head off down the stairs behind his brother.

"Not so fast", Harry said, grabbing his son's shoulder. "You're coming this way."

James drooped his head in disappointment of his failed attempt to escape the situation. Trying to walk as slowly as possible to delay the inevitable, James dragged himself up the stairs to McGonagall's office. As the three men enter the office, McGonagall looked up from her desk. Once she saw what student was coming in, she placed her head in her palm and shook her head. Harry sat James down in one of the chairs in front of McGonagall's desk, which still had remains of his brothers morning snack on it.

"Should I expect every member from the Potter family to come to my office today?" McGonagall said looking at Harry.

"Hi", Harry said, and gave her an embarrassed smile.

"Well this young man decided to play a prank on me, in my classroom, in front of all my students, this morning", Malfoy said.

Harry, not having heard the story of why James was being sent to the headmistress' office, started rubbing his temples. It wasn't even lunchtime and he was already exhausted.

"Well, you kind of deserved it", James said. "You sent my little brother to the headmistress' office for coming late on his first day. That's not fair."

Malfoy was standing with his arms crossed, deliberately looking in the other direction, not hearing anything that James was saying.

McGonagall and Harry both let out a long sigh.

"We do not play pranks on our professors here at Hogwarts", McGonagall said to James. "It is unacceptable behavior. For this prank, you are going to have to have detention. The trophies have not been cleaned in a while, so you can clean all the trophies in the trophy room." McGonagall said, determined to have this meeting over with as quickly as possible.

"What?" James said.

"And you may not use any magic to do so", McGonagall added.

"But…" James said as he was about to protest.

"For 2 weeks-" McGonagall cut him off "and that's the end of the conversation", she said sternly.

James crossed his arms in annoyance.

"I am also going to have to take 10 points away from the Gryffindor house."

James opened his mouth and was about to express his displeasure of the situation. He decided not to, incase McGonagall decided to take away even more points. He got up and left the office with Malfoy, who was wearing a smug grin of victory across his face.

Harry was still carrying the brooms on his shoulder, which was starting to ache. He put the brooms on the floor and started rubbing his shoulder.

"Come here", McGonagall said to Harry, as she ushered him to one of the chairs. "Sit down."

She moved Harry's ponytail to one side, which was now a little longer than shoulder length and proceeded to give him a shoulder rub.

"You are so stiff, you shouldn't be working so much," McGonagall said in a motherly voice.

"Why is your office covered in crumbs?" Harry asked.

"Well, your son was here", McGonagall begins. "Actually, both of them were here but it started with Albus. He apparently came late to his morning class and I could hear his stomach rumbling from across the castle, so I gave him a little something to eat."

"Thanks", Harry said and shook his head in embarrassment, but couldn't help but smile at the fact that McGonagall felt the need to take care of him.

"Don't worry about it", McGonagall replied.

"Hi there", Dumbledore calls from the frame on the wall. "How's life?"

Harry turned around in his seat and waved back at the picture of his old friend.

"Well, I'm now the head of the Auror office for the ministry of magic, and I teach flying here at Hogwarts. I also have three kids, so I have a lot on my plate at the moment." Harry replied giving Dumbledore half a smile. "Ron is an Auror as well. Hermione is deputy head of the department of magical law enforcement, and they have two kids." Harry went on.

"You're head of the Auror office?", Dumbledore asked, his eyebrows raised. "What happened to Rufus Scrimgeour?"

"Yes, Rufus disappeared a while back, no one knows what became of him", Harry answered back. "So now I'm head of the office now."

"Where is Snape?" Harry asked once he noticed that the frame hanging next to Dumbledore was empty.

"Well, your son was here..."

"Why do all stories start like that this morning", Harry cut him off with a chuckle.

"Your son was here", Dumbledore continues with a smile. "Then Snape became curious about his name. When Albus told him that it was because you felt that Snape was one of the bravest men you had ever known, he just disappeared off somewhere."

"Oh well", Harry shrugged. "I'm sure he'll be back soon enough."

"You should take a break," McGonagall mumbled. "You're terribly stiff."

"I can only take a little break," Harry said, "but not now, maybe later."

McGonagall's hands dropped in defeat, she could see there was no way of talking him into anything. Harry pulled out the letter stamped _confidential_ from his robe. McGonagall stared at the envelope, grabbed her wand and locked the office door. Harry began to read the letter out loud.

 _Dear Potter,_

 _I am not sure whether my instincts are correct here, however I noticed today that one of my students reminds me a lot of a particularly unpleasant person that I am sure you remember. When I locked eyes with this boy, in my classroom, the red glint in his eyes sent shivers down my spine. Your son, Albus, seemed to be quite friendly with the boy, which is the reason for why I am writing you. I suggest we meet at 8pm to discuss these matters, and I think it would be wise to bring one of your colleagues from the Auror office with you._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Draco Malfoy_

Harry put down the letter and looked over at McGonagall, who was clearly surprised at the letter's content. Harry started twirling his thick long hair through his fingers, which was a habit he had developed when he needed to think hard.

"What do you think?" He said, breaking the suspenseful silence that had filled the room.

"Remaining calm is key in this situation," Dumbledore said in his soothing voice. "His eyes were only familiar, there is no reason to interpret that as a threat to the school…not yet," he added,

However, Harry's auror instincts were telling him that there was trouble ahead. Harry pulled out his sack of coins and took one out. With the flick of his wand, he activated it with the time and date of the meeting. Across the castle, Neville Longbottom was sitting at his desk in the Herbology classroom when a coin started to vibrate in his pocket. He looked around the classroom to make sure none of the students was paying attention to him, then he pulled out his sack of coins. He rummaged around in the sack until he found the coin that was vibrating. He looked at it and saw that Harry was calling a meeting with him at Hogwarts at 8pm. James, who was sitting at his desk, growing more bored of Herbology class with every passing minute, noticed that Professor Longbottom was staring at a coin that he had in his hand. Neville looked up and noticed that James was watching him. He quickly put the coin away in his pocket and gave his head a quick scratch. _What could Harry be calling a meeting for_ , he thought to himself.

Back in McGonagall's office, Harry took a deep breath. He didn't feel prepared for whatever was about to happen at this meeting.

"It will be fine," McGonagall said, not sounding completely convinced by her own words.

Harry picked up the pile of brooms which had been laying on the floor beside him and slung them over his shoulder.

"Good luck," McGonagall said, while she unlocked the door with her wand.

Harry, feeling like he had a lot more weight on his shoulders than just a few brooms, walked off into the dimly lit stairwell and disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

Out on the lawn, Albus and the rest of his housemates from Slytherin, as well as the first year students of Gryffindor were waiting for their flying instructor to arrive. The class should have started five minutes ago, and the two houses were staring each other down in an unfriendly manner.

All of a sudden, Albus heard a strange sound coming towards them. He looked over to where the noise was coming from and was quite surprised to see a herd of brooms come flying towards the group. All the students were now staring up into the sky at the flock of brooms, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. One by one, the brooms landed neatly next to each and every student forming two straight lines facing each other. The students were all giddy with excitement and full of anticipation to begin their flying class. Shortly after the brooms appeared, Harry Potter came swooping in. The students held their breath as he did a flip on his broom above their heads. The girls were blushing and giggling to one another while they watched Harry with dreamy eyes. Albus felt the familiar wave of embarrassment wash over him as his father came to a soft landing by the group.

"Good morning class", Harry said as he walked up between the two rows of students.

"Sorry for coming late this morning, but lets get started straight away."

"Good morning, Mr. Potter", the class answered back.

"Now", he began, "everyone step up to the side of your broom, place one hand out and over it and say _up_ ", Harry instructed.

All the students did as Harry said. When Albus tried the first time, his broom wiggled around a little bit on the floor, then became still again. He tried a second time, this time it shot up into his hand. He could feel an electrical energy pulsing through the broom, making it almost hard to hold on to.

"Hey", Noah said when he saw that Albus had already succeeded in getting his broom to rise. "How come you managed that so quickly", he said annoyed.

"I'm not sure", Albus replied, too pleased to notice that Noah was not participating in his delight.

"You're just like me", Harry said when he saw his son had already gotten the hang of it. "You're going to be a great flyer, no doubt", he added as he patted him on the shoulder.

Noah scowled and continued to order his broom to rise in a harsh tone.

"Do you need some help?" Harry asked Noah, noticing his growing frustration. Taking his hesitation as a yes, Harry walked over to Noah and placed his own hand on top of his.

"You have to be firm", he said.

"Up!" Noah said, in a confident manner.

The broom flew up and smacked him across the face.

"Well, maybe not quite so firm", Harry said.

Albus and Scorpius both let out a laugh.

"Shut up!" Noah said, rubbing his face.

"Mr. Potter, over here", a girl's voice echoed.

Harry turned around and saw that all the girls had their hands raised. They were staring at him with doughy eyes. He smiled and shook his head as he walked over to the girls to help them.

While Harry was showing the girls how to control their broom, he glanced over at Albus and Noah. His Auror instincts were going off in his head. There was something not completely right about that boy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. _Noah must be the boy Malfoy was referring to_. He thought to himself as he twirled a strand of his hair through his fingers. Snapping out of his thoughts, Harry noticed that Albus was waving at him with a frown on his face.

"What are you staring at?" Albus mouthed at him

"Nothing", he mouthed back at his son.

But Harry couldn't stop staring at Noah. He finally shook himself clear of his gaze.

"Okay, now everyone mount your broom, it's time to start doing some flying", he called over the group of students. "Once you have mounted your broom, you should kick off from the ground. Your broom will move in the direction that you lean in. At my whistle, you may begin", he said.

Harry took out the whistle from his pocket and gave it a forceful blow. Albus kicked off from the ground and he flew up into the air. He leaned slightly to the left and his broom responded by turning to the left. Albus felt like his stomach was full of butterflies. He had never felt so exhilarated in his life. He looked to his side and saw Scorpius flying by him with a bewildered look on his face. A few moments later, Noah came juddering by. His broom wasn't riding smoothly through the air like Albus'. Rather, it was jolting from side to side, almost slinging Noah off the broom. All of a sudden, the broom took a sudden turn and Noah slipped. He now hangs upside down from his broom.

"I don't think thats how you're supposed to fly a broom", Scorpius called to him in a mocking tone.

Harry, who was standing on the ground, stared up at the students noticed Noah and let out a sigh. He hopped on his broom and flew over to where Noah was clinging on for dear life. He put one hand on the back of the broom and managed to steady it.

"Now swing your self back up on to it", he said to Noah who was still on the wrong side of the broom.

Noah slung his weight around so that he flipped over and was finally sitting normally again.

"Now, to get used to flying the broom, a good game to play is 'tag'", Harry called out. "Scorpius will start out as being 'it', and the rest of you must try and avoid him as best you can. Otherwise, you become one of the 'taggers' along with Scorpius. The last person to not be tagged wins the game", Harry explains.

"Why me?" Scorpius said in protest. "I want to play Quidditch."

"Well, the tryouts for the Quidditch team are only open for second year students and up, so I'm afraid that's not an option. So until then, I recommend that you learn how to fly your brooms properly", Harry replied.

Scorpius lands his broom on the ground and kicks it to one side with his arms crossed. Harry shakes his head at Scorpius's tantrum.

"Do I have any volunteers then?" Harry asked the group.

Without any hesitation, all the girls shot their hands up in the air.

"Choose me", "over here!", "no me!" All the girls called out, pushing each other aside to try and get Harry's attention.

All the chaos that Harry was causing in the girls group was not lost on Albus. Slightly off to the side of the group of screaming girls, Noah was hovering uneasily on his broom.

"Who should I pick?" Harry said, running his eyes across the group.

The girls squealed with excitement as Harry raised a finger in their direction.

"Noah, you start", Harry said.

A murmur of disappointment swept through the group of girls. They all scowled at Noah, who looked even more disappointed than they did.

"On my whistle, the game begins", Harry shouted, then he blew his whistle and the group of students scattered.

Noah went for a boy with a round, plump face who seemed to be having about as much luck as he was with steering his broom. He managed to tag him fairly easily. Now that there were two of them, although not the best flyers, they still managed to catch the students one by one. Soon, there were only a few students left, Albus being one of them. The taggers started formulating a plan to systematically round up each student so they couldn't escape. Now there were only two students left, Albus and a red haired girl. Albus saw Noah flying towards him at full speed. He jerked his broom up and shot straight up, further into the air so that Noah just missed catching him. Noah managed to circle his broom around and again was tailing Albus. Albus glanced over his shoulder and noticed that Noah looked particularly serious, he was clearly not playing around. Noah was inching closer and closer. He stretched out his hand towards Albus. Just as he was about to grab his cloak, Harry blew the whistle.

"Okay guys, come on down", Harry called from the ground. "We have a winner."

All the students swooped down and landed on the lawn.

"Albus Potter", Harry said smiling. "You were the last one standing, " he announced in a proud voice.

"I was so close", Noah said annoyed. "I'll get you next time", he said in a jokingly manner.

However, Albus got a strange feeling that Noah wasn't really joking around.

"Brooms!" Harry called. All the brooms rose up from the ground and piled up next to Harry. "The class is over for today, I will see you next time."

The class gave out a dissatisfied sigh, as no one wanted the class to be over. The students gathered their things from the ground and scurried off into the halls of Hogwarts. The only student left standing on the field was Albus.

"Are you not leaving with the others?" Harry asked when he noticed that Albus was still standing on the lawn.

"Do you need any help?" Albus asked his father.

"I guess if you wouldn't mind carrying the brooms for your old man, that would be great", Harry said, rubbing his shoulder, which was still sore despite McGonagall's massage from earlier. The two of started walking down a path that lead away from the school. They walked through the archway that lead beyond the grounds of the castle. When they came to the top of a slight hill, Albus gasped in amazement. There in the middle of a field stood the Quidditch pitch. They got closer and Albus couldn't hide his astonishment at how magnificent the pitch looked with the tall towers surrounding it. Albus stood without blinking and stared up at the pitch, his mouth hanging open.

"Come along, son", Harry said in a fatherly tone and ruffled the hair on his head.

Albus reminded Harry of the first time he saw a Quidditch pitch himself.

"You know, my first Quidditch game was against Slytherin house here at Hogwarts. I caught the snitch with my mouth scoring 150 points for Gryffindor. I was the only first year student on either team, you know."

"What? How did you get on the team?" Albus asked in amazement.

"Well after a flying lesson out on the lawn, Malfoy was being...well, Malfoy. He threw a glass ball away, so I swooped down and caught it. Professor McGonagall saw me, and told the captain of the Gryffindor team that she had found them a seeker, and the rest was history."

Albus stared at his father in disbelief.

"Wow", he stuttered. "You must have been good then."

"Yeah", his father said, lifting his shoulders. "It just came naturally for me, and from what I saw today, it seems to come naturally for you, too", he added, looking down at his son.

Albus suddenly fell shy from the compliment.

"Thanks", he said, scratching the back of his head.

Harry and Albus came to a halt in front of a door. Above the door there were two brooms hanging on the wall, crossing over each other. Between the two brooms there was the Hogwarts crest. Albus stared up at the display with wide eyes. Harry swung open the door and they stepped inside. The room was filled with memorabilia from all the Quidditch teams. Albus walked up to a picture that was hanging on the wall opposite him. In the frame, there was a group of people all wearing Slytherin uniforms, waving out at Albus. One of the team members was not waving at him, however. Albus inched himself closer and saw that the person who wasn't waving was Professor Malfoy. He looked quite a bit younger, but there was no mistaking that it was him.

"Come over here", Harry called over to his son.

Albus trotted over to the picture that his father was pointing at.

"Do you recognize anyone in this one?" His father asked with a smirk on his face.

Albus peered into the photo and noticed his mother and Ron Weasley, who were wearing the Gryffindor uniforms. Kneeling down in front of the group was his father.

"Why are you at the front?" Albus asked

"I was captain of the team", Harry answered back.

"You look terrified", Albus noted.

"Yes...well I was new and didn't really know what I was doing", Harry replied.

"On my first day, there were the tryouts for the team. I thought they would never take me seriously. The only two people who seemed to be paying attention to me were your mother and Ron. I couldn't even get them to stop chatting while I was trying to talk. Ron and I both tried to quiet them down, but in the end it was your mum who got everyone to shut it."

Harry took his own broom off his shoulder and passed it to Albus.

"This is the broom I used back then, and the broom I still use for that matter", Harry said as he watched his son handle his broom in amazement."It's a Firebolt racing broom, which Sirius Black, my godfather gave to me once."

Albus' jaw was hanging open as he held the broom between his hands. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Albus had started drooling. The broom was vibrating and Albus could feel the pulses going up through his arms. Then without any warning, the broom shot out of his hands. Harry was quick to grab a hold of it so that it wouldn't shoot off.

"You stay there", Harry said mockingly, as he placed the broom on a wall mount.

Harry and Albus started mounting the rest of the brooms that had been used in the flying class.

"Can you tell me the story of your first broom?" Albus asked peering up at his father.

"Now?" Harry said scratching his head. "I'll tell you later, otherwise you'll miss lunch."

"Please", Albus begged.

"Alright", Harry chuckled. "I'll give you the short version", he said, pleased about his son's enthusiasm.

"When McGonagall headhunted me for the team, she gave me my first broom. It was a Nimbus 2000, which was the fastest broom on the market at the time. In my third year, we were supposed to compete against Slytherin. However, Malfoy was injured so we had to play Hufflepuff instead. During the match, there was a major storm raging and it was raining badly, but we still played. As we were playing, Dementors entered the playing field, which caused me to go unconscious as I fell off. When I woke up in the hospital wing, Ron told me that Dumbledore had managed to save me but my broom had crashed into the Whomping willow and broken into pieces."

Albus, who had not at all been prepared for such an extreme story, blinked and stared at his father.

"Now, you're going to have to hurry if you want to catch lunch", Harry said. Just then, Harry noticed the mysterious fifth ghost lurking in one of the dark corners of the room.

"Hurry on", Harry said in a more urgent tone.

"But, I'm not that hungry", Albus replied, who was still slightly full from McGonagall's biscuits.

"Go, Albus", Harry said demandingly.

Albus felt it was best to obey his father at this point and headed out of the room, towards the school.

"Mr. Potter." A familiar voice said from the dark corner.

"Who are you?" Harry said trying to make out the features of the man speaking to him.

"I see that your mother's eyes have been passed down to yet another generation", said the man.

Harry squinted and tried to remember where he had heard that voice before. Harry waved his hand in front of the man and whispered _Lumos_. A speckle of light appeared in his hand. The speckle started flying round and round in little circles in his palm. With every circle, the speckle grew larger and brighter. Within a few seconds, Harry was holding a ball of light in his hand. As the light chased away the shadows from the corner, the figure started to come into view. Harry held his breath and braced himself for whatever was about to happen next. Harry noticed a liquid had soaked the front of the man's cloak, and he had an eerie feeling that it was blood. As the shadows fell away from the man's face, Harry found himself staring into a very familiar face. His black hair surrounding his face and that same cold stare.

"Snape?" he managed to whisper "What are you...how did you…" Harry struggled to find the right words.

Snape gave him a cold stare then he backed up into the shadows. Harry desperately tried to stop him from disappearing, but Snape vanished into the cold brick wall behind him. Harry snapped his hand together extinguishing the light. He felt like there were a million questions he wanted ask but no one to answer them. He turned on his heels and marched out into the fresh, cool air. Once outside, he started frantically looking around for the ghost of his old professor. In the distance, he saw the outlines of the ghost as he headed back towards the castle.

"Wait", Harry called out.

But Snape's ghost kept growing smaller and smaller as he drew further away from the Quidditch pitch. Harry was not ready to give up quite yet. He walked briskly towards the castle, desperately trying not to lose sight of the ghost. He went through the school grounds and into the long gallery. The halls were packed with students who were all trying to get to their next class. Harry, who was shoving students aside to try and get through the crowd as quickly as possible, didn't realize that his son was among the students until he bumped right into him.

"Ouch!" Albus yelled when Harry crashed into him "What's the rush?" he asked, frowning at his father.

"Oh, it's nothing", Harry said. "Hurry along to your class", he added.

Albus had a feeling that his father was hiding something from him.

"Are you guys okay?" A voice said from behind them.

They both twirled around and saw that the Herbology professor, Neville Longbottom, was standing with a worried look upon his face.

"Yeah, we're good", Harry said and took off, again barging through the crowds of students.

"That was strange", Albus muttered to himself as he watched his father disappear into a sea of people.

Harry was back out in the cool air, trying to catch sight of the ghost. Scanning the horizon and the surrounding area, he could not see that there was any ghost around. _Where could he have been going?_ Harry thought to himself, holding onto a sliver of hope that he would see him again. As he looked around, he caught sight of a house down by the sea. Then it dawned on him.

" _Of course!"_ he whispered out loud. "He's going to the spot where he was last alive, the boathouse"

Harry took to his feet, he wanted to run but felt that if someone saw him sprinting it may seem suspicious. Being as quick on his feet as possible without arousing attention, he paced down the brick pathway that lead to the boathouse. As he got closer his heart sped up, pounding in his chest. He tugged on the door and stepped inside. The dimly lit room smelled of damp moss and salt.

"Snape", he called out over the sound of sloshing water. "Snape", he yelled again, his voice echoing around the bare walls.

He walked over to where he last saw Snape alive. A shiver went through his body as he remembered that fateful day many years ago. He kneeled down by the spot where Snape drew his last breath. With a wave of his hand, he conjured up a crown of flowers in the shape of a heart. He lay the crow up against the wall. He could so clearly remember Snape leaning up against that exact same wall as life slipped away from him. Just then someone cleared their throat behind him. Harry spun around and jumped to his feet in surprise.

"Why are you here?" Harry blurted out "I mean, why have you come back?"

Snape gave Harry a long stare. He then opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but no words came out. It was clear to Harry that Snape was trying to convey some kind of message to him, but for some reason was hesitant. For the second time, Snape looked as if he was about to speak, but then closed his mouth and looked down at the ground as if thinking carefully about how to phrase his words.

"Even though Voldemort is dead, his bloodline still remains", Snape finally uttered.

"What...how?" Harry exclaimed.

He tried to wrap his head around what Snape had said. How could Voldemort's bloodline still be alive? What did that mean?

"Evil is closer to your son then you think", he added.

Harry felt as if all the energy from his body had been drained. He stumbled backwards until he felt the cold brick wall up against his back. His legs felt as if they were about to give in at any second. He slid down the wall and crouched down on the ground cradling his head in his hands. Snape glided over and places one hand on Harry's shoulder. However, Harry could feel it pass right through his body without meeting any resistance. He peered up at Snape's pale face.

"We will try to protect you son", Snape said.

"But how?" Harry whispered.

Snape looked down not knowing how to answer Harry's question. Suddenly, Harry got an idea.

"How about if I provide you with a solid body?" Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Snape asked frowning at Harry.

"Well, it would only be temporary, but I can cast a spell which will make you appear as if alive for a little while. You won't pass through things, it will be as if you had never passed on", Harry said excitedly.

Snape gave Harry a blank stare.

"I have never heard of such a thing", Snape said, not completely convinced by Harry's plan.

"I can do wandless magic", Harry explained. "I have the skills to perform this spell. I don't see why it shouldn't work."

"Wandless magic is a rare skill", Snape replied. "How come you are capable of such a thing?" he asked.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"It just came to me in my third year", he explained. "Whenever I got really angry, I could make things happen. After Hogwarts was destroyed in the battle against Voldemort, Ron and I left and became apprentices. As the years wore on, I learned how to control it."

Snape gave a long pause as if he was digesting this new information. After a few moments had gone by, he looked up at Harry and gave him a nod.

"Okay", he said, agreeing to Harry's plan.

Harry tugged on a thin chain hanging around his waist, pulling out his watch.

"I have to run. I have a meeting", Harry said, surprised at how quickly time had gone by. "I'll come by later", he said as he took off out of the boathouse.

Snape grimaced and shook his head as he watched Harry disappear into the evening light.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 5**

Harry came bursting into the defence against the dark arts classroom, short of breath from his sprint across the school grounds. In the corner of the room, Neville and Malfoy were sitting at a round wooden table. The classroom had not changed much since Harry was at Hogwarts. The stone walls and high ceiling gave the room an heir of grandness. At the front of the room, there was a blackboard on wheels framed with wood. Malfoy looked at his watch which read ten minutes past eight.

"You're late", Malfoy said shortly. "Why?" He added.

"I just got caught up chatting and lost track of time", Harry replied, hoping that they would not ask any further questions.

"With who?" Neville asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter, let's get down to business", Harry replied, pulling aside a chair to take a seat at the table.

Malfoy cleared his throat and shifted slightly in his chair.

"So, that boy, Noah, that seems to be getting friendly with your son, he feels...off", Malfoy tried to explain. "When I looked into his eyes earlier today, he reminded me of Voldemort."

Neville and Harry turned to each other exchanging a worried glance.

"I received a message today telling me that Voldemort's bloodline may still be alive," Harry told them, not wanting to give them too much information about Snape.

"From who?" Malfoy asked, his eyebrows raised.

"An old professor from Hogwarts", Harry replied, hoping his answer would satisfy their curiosity. "Do you think this boy could be..." Harry trailed off. "Did Voldemort ever love anyone?" he asked.

Malfoy leaned his elbows on the table, intertwining his fingers as he contemplating Harry's question. The three of them sat in complete silence for a while as they tried to come to some kind of logical conclusion. Harry was fiddling with a strand of his hair as he desperately tried to come up with an explanation that would prove Snape's warning to be wrong. Then Harry pulled out a little flask with a strand of hair in it. Neville and Malfoy looked over at each other.

"A strand of hair?" Neville exclaimed "How on earth did you manage to get his hair?" he asked, staring at Harry.

"I teach flying, you know", Harry answered with a smirk.

"In no way does that answer my question", Neville said.

Harry gave out a laugh then opened the flask.

"Well, we will soon find out who the boy's parents are", Harry said, and took out his wand.

He muttered a spell and a thin line of what appeared to be red ink spat out and slivered into the flask. They then sat and watched. When nothing happened, Harry put down his wand and continued without it. The sliver of ink coiled itself around the hair and pulled it from the flask. It hovered in the air above the table. Then, it started to spell out a word.

"It should spell out his parent's names", Harry explained, as the three men held their breath.

As the name started to become apparent, Harry felt as if there was icy water running down his spine. He looked over at Malfoy who shuddered, and Harry noticed he had goosebumps. The name that had appeared in the red ink was _Tom Riddle_. Not knowing what to expect, they kept watching as a second name started to appear. Right underneath Voldemort's name, the ink spelled out _Bellatrix Lestrange._

"How can this be?" Malfoy said angrily as he slammed his fist down on the table. "Bellatrix was never pregnant. I never even saw her with a small child", he went on, now pacing back and forth the front of the classroom and rubbing his forehead.

"Calm down", Harry said, irritated. "I can't think with you panicking like that in the background."

Harry stared intensely at the wooden table. "I guess she could have used a spell to hide her pregnancy", he said, thinking out loud.

Malfoy stopped pacing and stared out of the window on the far side of the classroom.

"Now when you say it, I remember a while back that Bellatrix was constantly touching her stomach. I thought it strange at the time, but not strange enough to question it any further", Malfoy said.

"Her and Voldemort also spent quite a lot of time together, if I remember correctly", Neville added.

"What year were you in at the time?" Harry asked, turning in his seat to face Malfoy.

Malfoy furrowed his brows as he tried to recall when this had taken place. "It was sometime when I was halfway through my seventh year", Malfoy said finally. "But how come we never saw the baby?" Malfoy asked.

The three men fell silent once again as they all tried to come up with an explanation.

"They must have left him somewhere", Harry said."If it is true that she was pregnant during your seventh year, then they would have been preoccupied with the war when the child arrived. Seeing as none of us ever saw either of them with a child, that means they must of left him with someone else", Harry said voicing out his thoughts.

Malfoy listened to Harry, then all of a sudden he remembered something. He could feel all the blood drain from his face.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I just remembered something", Malfoy said. "Around the same time that Bellatrix was supposedly pregnant, something strange happened at my house. One night as I lay sound asleep I was woken by piercing screams coming from downstairs. Terrified, I shot out of bed and grabbed my mother's wand, seeing as you had confiscated mine". Malfoy paused and gave Harry a sharp look.

"Anyways", Malfoy continued, "I thought we were being attacked. My mother came into my room trying to persuade me that everything was fine and that I should go back to bed. Close on her heels, Voldemort came frantically running in, pulling at my mother and asking her to go downstairs quickly. I was in a state of shock. Once I had gathered myself, I decided to creep out into the hallway to investigate, but the door was locked. I must have stood there for ages pounding on the door, begging them to let me out and tell me what was going on. Screams and sobs were coming from downstairs. In the end, I must have collapsed from exhaustion, because I woke up the next day on the floor."

"Did you ever find out what was going on?" Harry interrupted.

"The next morning, I tried the door and found it was open, so I went downstairs and knocked on the room I assumed the crying had been coming from. When there was no answered I went in. On the bed, I saw my mother holding Bellatrix in her arms. She was crying and calling out to someone, but my mother was holding her back and trying to comfort her. When I asked what had happened, my mother simply shook her head and told me it wasn't the right time. So I left."

Malfoy walked over to the table and took a seat.

"That day when Hermione, Ron and, I were taken to your house by the snatchers", Harry said. "Well, in the dining room when Ron and I were fighting Bellatrix, the chandelier came crashing down. I remember that it almost hit Bellatrix and she screamed out, but I seem to remember that she also grabbed her stomach just before she disappeared."

Malfoy was clearly growing more worried with every addition to the story.

"Well, we're going to have to think up some sort of plan", said Neville, who had been silently taking everything in.

"I know someone who is going to help us", Harry said, quickly trying to think of how not to give away Snape's identity.

"Who?" Neville asked.

"Well...He's actually a ghost", Harry said cautiously.

"Okay", Malfoy said. "Who is this ghost and how is he going to help us?"

"He calls himself S.S.", Harry lied.

"Oh, does he", Neville said, raising one eyebrow as he smirked at Harry.

"Am I missing out on something here?" Malfoy said crossing his arms.

"Never mind", Harry said, looking down at his hands.

Malfoy glared at him from across the table.

"So", Harry began, "I am going to give this ghost the body of a young boy..."

Malfoy scoffed which interrupting Harry.

"As I was saying", Harry went on, giving Malfoy a sidewards glance, "I will have him look as if he is a student at Hogwarts. That way, he will be able to keep an eye on Noah and maybe gain some information for us. The spell will only be temporary though, so we better hope that Noah gives away some kind of clue as to whether he is up do no good", Harry explained.

"That sounds like a plan," Neville said. "But we better get going if we don't want others to become suspicious of what we are doing", he announced as he rose from his seat.

"Yes, I agree", Harry said. "I better get going."

Neville and Harry walked over to the door, leaving Malfoy sitting at the table. _There is something that they're not telling me,_ Malfoy thought to himself. As he watched the two of them exit the classroom, he decided that he better find out what was going on. He snuck out into the corridor and slowly crept along, keeping himself close to the walls.

"Bye Malfoy", Harry called over his shoulder.

Malfoy was startled by the mention of his name. He ran over to where Harry and Neville had turned a corner and peered around it. Just as he stuck his head out, Neville caught sight of him.

"Bye", he said, his face turning red with embarrassment for being caught spying on them.

"Oh, come on then", Harry said.

Malfoy straightened himself and stepped out from behind the corner.

"How did you know," he asked sheepishly.

"I have three kids", Harry said with a smile.

Out on the grounds, Harry, Neville and Malfoy were heading towards Harry's apartment that Hogwarts had provided to him. As they walked through the front door of Harry's place Neville, saw a small girl sprint towards them.

"Dad!" Lily called out as she jumped into Harry's arms.

Harry gave his youngest daughter a big kiss on the cheek and put her down. She let out a giggle and wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt. From around the corner, Ginny popped out from nowhere. She wraps her arms around Harry's neck, squeezing him tightly.

"How are you?", Ginny asked loosening her grip to look Harry in the eyes.

"Oh..you know", Harry said vaguely. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Harry said to Ginny as he led her up the stairs and into his office, locking the door behind them.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked, slightly worried.

"Well, my morning started out in McGonagall's office because of James. He apparently played some kind of prank on Malfoy."

"Oh dear", Ginny sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm not done", Harry went on. "In her office, we bumped into Albus who was there for being late."

"They take after their father, then", Ginny said teasingly.

"Then I got this letter from Malfoy. He's worried about this boy called Noah, said he didn't seem quite right. I agreed with him, so we ended up looking into who the boy's parents are", Harry paused.

"And?"

"His parents were Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange", Harry said.

Ginny gave out a little gasp and instinctively grabbed her wand.

"We have to go get Albus. We can't leave him alone around that kid. Who knows what he has planned, he might be seeking revenge. I need to keep him safe", Ginny said, blurting everything out at once.

"Calm down, honey" Harry said, pulling Ginny closer. "I'll be looking out for him. Besides, I have some help as well."

Ginny peered up at him inquisitively.

"There's the ghost of an old professor that I know who is willing to help me out. We have a plan to have him do some spying on Noah", Harry explained.

"What professor?"

"Severus Snape", Harry replied.

"What? How?" Ginny stammered.

"I'm not sure, but he's here anyway and willing to help. I think it would be best if you took Lily and went back to Harwich so that you can be safe."

"No way", Ginny replied. "I'm not leaving my husband and two of my sons behind to be at home in Harwich."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "I've never been able to talk you into anything, so I might as well not even try."

Ginny smiled at Harry with a triumphant look on her face. Harry walked over to a large wooden chest with a gold padlock on the front. He opened it up and reached inside.

"What are you looking for?" Ginny asked.

"I need some stuff to cast the spell on Snape", he replied while he rummaged around in the chest.

Harry pulled out three candles and lay them next to the chest, he then dove back in and pulled out a thick spell book. Finally, he took out a narrow box. He sat for a moment staring at the box. Grabbing hold of the corner of his shirt, he wiped a thin layer of dust off the top of it.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

Harry didn't answer straight away. He stroked the top of the box. "It's Snape's wand", he said finally as he opened it to reveal what was inside. He then peered back into the chest, searching for a Slytherin uniform to give to Snape.

"Shoot", Harry said. "I need a Slytherin uniform for him."

"Can I help?" Ginny asked. "I can go see if I find one for you", she said unlocking the door and disappearing out of the office before Harry could answer.

A few moments later, she came back into the office holding James's old Gryffindor uniform from when he was in his first year at Hogwarts.

"Uhmm...not quite what I was looking for, but almost", Harry said, letting out a chuckle.

"Actually", Harry added just as Ginny was about to leave the room again, "this might work."

He took the uniform and hung it up on the back of his door. With a swift movement of his hand, he changed the uniform from red and black to green and black.

"Okay, I better get going then", Harry said as he gathered his things.

Downstairs by the front door, Ginny and Lily stood and watched as the three men got ready to leave.

"Be careful", Ginny whispered to Harry as he leaned in to give her a kiss.

"I will, don't worry", he answered.

"Hey, don't forget about me", Lily squealed, pulling on her father's cloak.

"Of course I wasn't going to forget you", Harry said as he pulled her close, giving her a huge hug.

Lily shrieked with delight as Harry kissed her on the neck, making his day old stubble tickle her face.

"I'll see you guys tonight", Harry called over his shoulder as he, Neville and Malfoy walked off across the grounds.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

"Are you sure this is the place?" Malfoy asked, seemingly unimpressed by the boathouse.

"Of course I'm sure", Harry replied.

"If you're a ghost, why on earth would you choose this miserable hole to live in?" Malfoy asked while looking around.

"Why not?" a voice hissed into Malfoy's ear from behind.

Startled by the voice, Malfoy leaped to one side. Harry and Neville looked at each other in amusement as they watched Snape's ghost glide smoothly over to where they were standing.

"S-S-Snape?" Malfoy stuttered.

"What do you think S.S. stood for?" Harry asked, watching Malfoy's bewilderment.

Malfoy clenched his jaw and whipped out his wand, making sparks fly out of it in Harry's direction. Harry put up his arm instinctively, making the sparks bounce off his hand and shoot back at Malfoy. Seeing the sparks coming back towards him, Malfoy jumped to one side with the sparks just missing him. They hit the wall behind him, giving out a sizzling sound as they evaporated into the air. Neville, who had been standing on the sidelines watching the ordeal, ducked down as he got sprayed with sparks. Harry saw Malfoy readying himself for another attack so he took out his wand and pointed it at Malfoy. A large chain started to appear at the end of his wand, shooting towards Malfoy and wrapping him up in a tight bundle. Malfoy was so surprised that he dropped his wand on the brick floor.

"Okay, are you ready to stop?" Harry asked, staring at Malfoy who was wriggling around, trying to get loose.

Seeing no way out of the situation, Malfoy finally gave in.

"Alright", Malfoy mumbled into his neckline.

Just as quickly as the chains had appeared, they vanished into thin air. Snape, who was standing next to them with his arms crossed, cleared his throat in a deliberate manner.

"That's enough", he said, shaking his head at the two men.

Malfoy put his wand away, crossing his arms in annoyance and purposefully avoiding Harry's gaze.

"Alright", Harry said, "let's stop horsing around. I brought everything we are going to need to turn Snape into a Slytherin student."

"I didn't survive my teenage years just to be turned back into one", Snape said with one eyebrow raised.

"Well", Harry began to say, scratching his head. "Do you have a better plan?" he asked Snape.

Snape looked around in silence.

"Please just do it", Harry begged after a moment.

Memories of Snape's past started flooding his mind. The days when James Potter, Harry's father, had played nasty pranks on him in front of all his classmates. He had been so glad those days were behind him, and now Harry is basically asking him to go back. Giving it a little thought, Snape finally decided it wouldn't be the same this time around.

"Fine", he hissed.

"Thank you", Harry said. "It will only be temporary", he added.

"Okay then", Harry said, clearing his throat.

He took out the spell book and started flipping through it in search of the right spell. He shuddered as he felt cool air going down the collar of his shirt. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Snape was standing right behind him, peering down at the book.

"Give me some space, would you?" Harry said, taking a few steps away.

"Who wrote all that?" Snape asked, still trying to read the pages from afar.

"It's mine. I made these spells", Harry replied absentmindedly.

He finally stopped flipping through the book. "Here we go", he said pointing down at the page.

Without hesitation, Neville and Malfoy shot over to Harry's side, eager to know how the spell would be performed. On the page, there was a picture of a circle with three oval circles across the top of it, forming what looked like a three petaled flower. There was also a picture of a scepter with a hollow glass ball on the end of it. In the ball, there was a fiery colored phoenix feather.

"What is that?" Malfoy asked, pointing to the scepter.

"It's my wand", Harry replied.

"How is that?" Malfoy asked, even more stumped than before.

"Just wait and see", he replied, smiling at Malfoy.

Harry slipped off his robe and flung it aside. He unfastened a pouch that was hanging on his belt and opened it.

"And what is that?" Malfoy asked.

"Shhh, let him concentrate", Neville said to Malfoy.

Snape stood by the wall, holding his chin as he watched Harry closely. Harry was pouring the ashes of his phoenix onto the ground in the same pattern that Malfoy had seen in the book. Harry closed his eyes and was muttering something that was inaudible to the others. All of a sudden, Harry's long hair started rising up and appeared to be floating in the air. He then raised his hand and three of the candles floated over to the tip of each petal in the sign. Snapping his fingers, all three candles lit up.

"Come here", Harry bellowed, beckoning towards Snape.

Snape started to glide over to Harry who was standing in the middle of the sign, but hesitated when he saw Harry's eyes. They were glowing as if they were made of fire with a tinge of green to them. His pupils were a thin line that was barely visible in the dim light. Snape glided over the rest of the way to Harry and stopped next to him in the middle. As soon as he reached the middle of the sign, the ashes started creeping towards him. They began to cover his legs, moving their way up his body, and wrapping around his waist covering him in grey. Reaching his shoulders, the ashes made their way down his arms and around his hands, spilling off the end of each finger. Snape lifted his arms up in amazement. Harry took his wand in one hand and tapped it three time against the brick floor. Sparks flew off the end of it every time the wand hit the floor. He then took it into his other hand and did the same thing. With every tap of the wand, it gradually started to grow bigger and bigger in his hands. Neville and Malfoy shielded their face with their arms to avoid the flying sparks. The ashes that had fully engulfed Snape fell to the ground, leaving only a cloud of dust where Snape had been standing. Harry's wand had turned into a scepter, one that looked exactly like the one in the book. He pointed the scepter at the pile of ashes on the ground and muttered a few more words. All of a sudden, the ashes started to rise, and a huge phoenix started to emerge. Rising up into the air, the phoenix spread out its wings making it seem even larger. It hovered in the air for a moment then collapsed into ashes again, leaving behind a huge cloud of smoke. As the smoke started to clear, Malfoy and Neville could hear coughing coming from inside the cloud. Harry's wand was rapidly shrinking back to its normal size, and his eye's had now returned to their usual color. Out of the dusty cloud, a figure started to emerge.

"Gosh, that's one heck of a headache", the figure said as it stepped forward into the dim light.

Standing before Malfoy and Neville was a young boy no older than 11 dressed in an oversized cloak. His arms barely stuck out the end of it, his legs hidden underneath the mound of material gathered on the floor. Harry walked over to the boy and knelt down beside him, placing one hand on his forehead.

"Come over here", Harry said to Neville, who was staring in disbelief at the boy. "Pass me that", he added, pointing at a bucket in the corner of the room.

Neville passed the bucket to Harry. He managed to place it in front of Snape just in time to catch the black vomit that suddenly came gushing out of Snape's mouth.

"What is that? Why is it black?" Malfoy asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"It's perfectly normal", Harry replied. "It's just the ashes leaving his system", he added, holding the bucket steady as Snape hurled one more time.

Harry gave Snape a hefty pat on the back as he coughed out the last of the tar-like vomit. Coughing into his oversized sleeve, Snape straightened himself out and looked around at the others. Neville pulled out one of his flasks which was full to the brim with a liquid. He handed it to Snape and told him to drink it.

"It will make you feel better", he explained.

Snape took the flask and guzzled down the potion in one big gulp. As soon as he swallowed the liquid, Snape felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him. His eyes grew heavy. Harry caught him just as he collapsed. He picked the boy up and slung him across his shoulder. In a clumsy attempt to pick up his robe off the floor, Harry gave up and looked over at Neville.

"Do you mind bringing all the stuff up to my apartment with me?" Harry asked.

"Yes, no worries", Neville replied, already picking up the supplies.

"I'm going to go back to the castle", Malfoy called over to the two men. "I will go and inform McGonagall on the course of events", he added and scurried off into the fields.

Harry and Neville set off to Harry's place. Snape was still asleep on Harry's shoulder. While they were walking, Snape started wriggling around in Harry's arms. Snape wrapped his arms around Harry's neck and started fiddling with his hair. Trying to keep him calm until they got back to the house, Harry rubbed his back to soothe him. When that didn't seem to calm him down, Harry started to think about when Albus and James were little and how he had soothed them. He remembered humming to them so that they would stop crying, so he started humming a song while they walked to the house. After a few moments, Snape became limp again. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and started sucking on it.

"Well, that seemed to work", Neville said, snickering at the sight of Snape.

"It's the same thing that worked on my three kids", Harry said with a smile.

Back at the house, Ginny had been waiting for the men to return back. She glanced over at the sleeping boy that Harry was carrying in his arms.

"Is that Snape?" she asked. Harry nodded back at her.

"Is he sucking his thumb?" she added, smiling.

Highly amused, Ginny reached for her camera and snapped a shot of Snape in this vulnerable state. After having her share of fun, she guided them into the boys' room. There were a sets of bunk beds on one side and a single bed on the other. Harry walked over to the lower bunk and lay the boy down on the bed. As he was about to straighten himself out, he realized that Snape was gripping a fair sized chunk of his hair. Seeing this, Ginny couldn't help but to burst out laughing. Trying to control the laughter, she walked over to Harry.

"We're going to have to cut it", she teased, barely getting the words out between fits of laughter.

"Very funny", Harry said, looking over at his wife.

Ginny finally managed to pry Snape's fingers loose from Harry's hair. She then removed the oversized cloak and went into the boys' dresser to find some pajamas that Snape could borrow. She helped him into them and lay him back down on the bed to rest. Snape, who was no longer clutching at Harry's hair, was now feeling around for something to hold on to. Ginny found a stuffed animal that was lying on the floor and put it next to Snape, who quickly settled down once he had the toy in his clutches. He wrapped one arm around the stuffed animal and stuck his thumb into his mouth. Ginny and Harry looked at each other and started giggling. As they were about to creep out of the room, Ginny realized that Lily was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't in the top bunk or in the single bed. Peering around the room in the dark, Harry and Ginny finally noticed a small pile of blankets on the floor. In the corner of the room, Lily had made herself a nice, cozy nest out of her blankets. Harry was about to move her when Ginny placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let her be", she whispered to Harry.

Harry and Ginny took a few moments to watch Lily peacefully curled up in her blankets. They crept out into the hallway. Down at the bottom of the stairway, Neville was peering up at them.

"I'm leaving", he whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, he disappeared out the front door. Harry suddenly realized how exhausted he felt and let out a huge yawn.

"Let's get some sleep", he said to Ginny, and wrapped his arms around her. As the last of the light disappeared behind the horizon, the house fell completely silent as Harry and Ginny drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

The next morning, Snape was awakened by a ray of sunlight sneaking in through the drapes. He sat up in his bed and looked around in confusion. It took him a few minutes to remember everything that happened the night before. As he came to his senses, he realized that he clutched a stuffed animal in his arms and had his thumb in his mouth. Surprised by his own childlike behavior, he threw the teddy bear to the floor and yanked his thumb out of his mouth. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Harry walked in with a tray full of food.

"I brought you guys some breakfast", Harry said looking over at Snape.

Harry noticed that Lily was starting to wake up in her little nest on the floor. He walked over to her and set her breakfast down next to her. Giving her a little rub on the cheek, Lily opened her eyes and looked up at her father. Without thinking, she put her hands out as if she wanted to be picked up. Harry took her into his arms and she buried her face into his neck as she slowly started to wake up properly.

"Who is that", Lily finally whispered into Harry's ear, trying to hide herself from the stranger that was lying in her brother's bed.

"That's...uhhm." Harry fell silent as he tried to think of how to explain to Lily who the boy was. "Your cousin", he finally said.

"What's his name?" she whispered, examining the stranger from the safety of her father's arms.

Harry scratched his head, thinking of how to answer this seemingly simple question.

"Liam", Snape lied. "Liam Potter", he added.

Lily wriggled free of her father's arms and walked over to Snape.

"Hi", she mumbled shyly, biting on the sleeve of her pajamas. "My name is Lily Luna Potter."

Snape, who was still in shock, stared at the little girl, his mouth hanging open. Realizing how ridiculous he must look, he stopped staring and looked down at his hands.

"Lily, bring your breakfast down, please", Ginny called from the kitchen.

"Coming", Lily called back.

She walked over to where Harry had put her breakfast down, scooped it up and skipped off down into the kitchen. Snape looked over at the bowl that Harry had placed on the nightstand next to him. It was full of some sort of unappetizing sludge. He took the spoon and stirred it around in the bowl.

"I'm actually not that hungry", he said to Harry.

"You have to eat something", Harry replied. "It will help your system return to a normal state", he explained.

Snape picked up the spoon hesitantly with a look of disgust on his face. He then took a deep breath and started eating the soup as quickly as possible.

"Okay, I'm done", he gasped once he had finished the bowl. He shuddered as the final slivers of the bitter fluid rushed down his throat.

Harry gave out a loud whistle. Within moments, a house elf appeared in the middle of the room, taking a deep bow to greet his master.

"What can I do for you, Master?" the house elf asked.

"Would you mind taking these dishes down stairs to the kitchen for me?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Master", the elf replied, quickly gathered the dishes and skurried off.

"Do you have a bathroom that I could use?" Snape asked.

"Yes, of course", Harry exclaimed. "Just go down the hall and to your right."

Snape slid himself off the edge of the bed until his feet were touching the floor. He then attempted to take a step forward, but his knees buckled and he fell to the floor.

"Do you need a hand?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm fine", Snape said, swatting away Harry's outstretched arm.

Snape crawled on all fours to the bed and hoisted himself back up to his feet. His legs were shaking uncontrollably.

"What's wrong with me?", he asked Harry.

"Well, we basically resurrected you from the dead, so it will take this new body of yours a while to get used to walking around. It is basically functioning like a newborn at the moment, but if you exercise it, it will quickly grow to become normal", Harry explained. "Let me help you", he added, putting his arm around Snape's waist to steady him.

Snape took a few steps towards to door, using Harry as support. Harry steared Snape down the hallway to the bathroom. Supporting him over to the toilet, he let him sit while he waited outside the bathroom door. Harry then helped him take a bath. Snape grew frustrated with every moment having so little autonomy over his new body. As he sat in the bathtub, he eventually had enough.

"Out!" He finally blurted at Harry. "Just get out."

"Alright, alright", Harry said soothingly putting both hands in the air. "I'll leave you to it then."

He snuck out the bathroom and closed the door gently behind him. He went into the boys dresser and found some clothes that would fit Snape.

"Harry", he heard a voice call from the bathroom. "Would you mind helping a fella out in here?"

Harry grinned at the sound of Snape's helplessness and opened the door into the bathroom.

"Not so straightforward after all then?" Harry teased.

"Let's just get this over with", Snape said.

Harry helped him out of the tub and into the clothes he had found for him.

"It is going to take you about a day, maybe two, to gather enough strength to walk around on your own", Harry said.

"A day or two?" Snape said irritatedly. "I can't depend on others for two whole days", he exclaimed.

"It all depends on how much exercise you do."

"Well, let's get to it then", Snape replied with a determined look in his eyes.

He grabbed on to the sink and slowly started to take a few steps. Seeing this, Harry sprung to his feet and hovered around him, ready to catch him if he were to fall.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7**

Harry and Snape went out into the hallway. Harry stood at one end while Snape tried to hobble his way over to him, using the wall for support. Snape could feel his legs were growing stronger, but they were not nearly strong enough yet. He put one foot in front of the other and let go of the wall. He felt as if he were walking on legs made of jello.

Shaking and wobbling from side to side, Snape managed to take a few steps towards Harry. He was so focused on Harry that his head was starting to hurt. Once he was only a few steps away from him, Harry started to back away, down the stairs at the end of the hallway.

"Come on", Harry whispered.

Snape took a few steps closer until he was standing at the top of the staircase. Looking down at Harry, who had now reached the bottom of the stairs, he felt his head start to spin.

"What are you doing all the way down there?" Snape hissed at Harry. "You're supposed to be making sure I don't fall."

"Well, if you do fall, I'll stop you at the bottom of the stairs so you don't roll out the front door", Harry called up the stairs.

Snape felt a hot flash of rage and he grabbed for his wand in his robe, then he realized that he didn't have one. He grabbed on to the railing to steady himself. He could feel his blood boiling with anger, and he was determined to make it down to Harry so that he could give Harry a piece of his mind. He slowly took one step down the stairs, gripping the railing tightly. When he put his weight on his front foot, it buckled from his own weight and he slumped down onto the stairs. Still holding on to the railing, he managed to pull himself up again. His legs were not strong enough to bear his weight quite yet. Snape stood with both feet together, toes hanging over the step. He wriggled himself forward, plunking down to the step below with both feet at the same time.

"That's cheating!" Harry called.

Snape felt a surge of satisfaction at Harry's annoyance at him. He stepped over the edge of the next one and plunked himself down again. Seeing this, Harry jogged over, picked Snape up and carried him over his shoulder to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey!" Snape called out.

From the front door, Snape could hear giggling. Snape started thrashing around, trying to make Harry put him down. Looking over at the front door, Snape saw McGonagall and Ginny chuckling away.

"Hey", he waved to them, hanging upside down from Harry's shoulder.

"Hi", McGonagall chuckled. "Now aren't you sweet", she said, pinching Snape's cheek.

"I am not amused", Snape said, giving McGonagall a grim look.

Harry grabbed the spellbook and the box containing Snape's wand from the side table and walked out the front door. He saw Ginny pull out a picture of Snape from the night before. He was in Harry's arms, sucking on his thumb and twirling Harry's hair around one finger. McGonagall started laughing even louder as she examined the picture closely. Snape could see the outlines of Ginny and McGonagall growing smaller the further away they were from the house. Soon, the two women faded away into the distance. Harry walked with Snape across his shoulder all the way down to the lock. Snape wrested his head in his hand, annoyed by the fact that he couldn't walk himself. Once they got down to the lock , Harry swung Snape off his shoulder and put him down on the grass.

"Here", Harry said to Snape as he handed him the spell book. "Take a look at this", he said, flipping to a page in the middle of the book.

Snape took the book into his hands and started reading. It was the spell that Harry had used the day before. He ran his eyes across the page and then his heart sunk. He felt as if everything was spinning around him. He looked up at Harry, who was standing in front of him.

"What have you done?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Harry didn't reply and looked away.

"The spell is permanent. Why would you not tell me that from the start? Why would you lie to me?" Snape was staring at Harry.

"When you died, I was there and I couldn't do anything." Harry started to explain "I could hear Voldemort's snake attacking you and there was nothing I could do. I felt so helpless."

"But this should have been my decision", Snape hissed, cutting Harry off. "You should have consulted with me first. You can't just go around resurrecting people because you want them back for your own selfish reasons", Snape said, boiling with rage.

Harry looked down at his feet, feeling ashamed of himself. He fell to his knees and passed the box with Snape's wand in it over to him. Snape took it but didn't open it. He simply sat there in disbelief. Harry moved himself closer and collapsed into Snape's arms, feeling overwhelmed by the situation. Snape ripped open the box, pulled out his wand, raised it into the air, pointing it at Harry. He could see the blood boiling in Snape's eyes. Harry's heart started racing. Then, Snape lowered his wand and dropped his hands down by his sides in exhaustion. He let go of his wand and grabbed Harry's face in both hands.

"Explain yourself", Snape thundered.

"After I lost my parents, I had no parental figures in my life", Harry started to explain as tears welled up in his eyes. "Then I came here and I saw you, Dumbledore, Sirius Black and professor Lupin as parental figures. Then Sirius, Dumbledore and Lupin all died, so I just had you left. When you died as well, I couldn't handle the loss of so many people I loved. When I saw that you had become a ghost, I thought that if I could bring you back we could go back to some sort of normalcy."

Tears were now streaming down Harry's face as he talked. "After Dumbledore died, I lost all interest in school and I only had one mission, and that was to destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes. I was forced to grow up quicker than any of my peers. I felt so alone, even though Hermione and Ron were always there and willing to help me with the Horcruxes. I've been on the run and fighting for survival for so long that I feel like I missed out on my childhood. I never got to go through the regular teenager stuff that most people go through."

"You were never alone though", Snape said. "You had Ginny, your children, and I. I always looked out for you as if you were my son, even though it may have not always been obvious", Snape said as he wiped away Harry's tears.

Snape leaned back and watched Harry who was genuinely upset.

"I forgive you", Harry whispered.

"You forgive me?" Snape hissed. "What on earth do you have to forgive me for?"

"I forgive you for killing Dumbledore", Harry said. "I realize now that it was all part of the plan. At the time I didn't know, so I was absolutely furious at you. I wished all kinds of harm on you back then, but now I understand why you did it, and I forgive you. I used the tears I took from you in the Pensieve and viewed your memories", he explained.

"Even though I never had a normal childhood, we can give you a normal one where you don't have to be a dark wizard or a death eater and even free of the dark mark. Just look." Harry added as he pulled up the sleeve of Snape's shirt to reveal an arm free of any sort of mark.

"Why?" Snape uttered "Why would you assume that is what I want? Why are you doing this?" Snape asked.

Harry went into his pocket and pulled out a little flask with a potion in it.

"This potion will make you age into an adult", Harry said.

"What?" Snape asked.

"My daughter Lily, isn't really my daughter. Well, she is and she isn't", Harry said.

Snape looked at Harry, growing more confused with every word that came out of Harry's mouth.

"She is actually my mother, reborn."

"But...how?" Snape asked in bewilderment.

"When Ginny gave birth to Lily, something went terribly wrong", Harry began to explain. "When Lily arrived, she wasn't breathing and her heart wasn't beating. We tried everything we could, but we couldn't bring her back to life. Eventually we had to give up." Harry paused, taking a deep breath. "But then something strange happened. I heard my mother's voice whispering to me and a gust of wind went through the room. Then all of a sudden, Lily started crying. She was alive. We weren't sure whether it was a miracle or if something else had happened that evening. It wasn't until a few years later when Lily started getting flashbacks that we realized what had happened. They weren't just any flashbacks, they were very specific events from my mother's life. The flashbacks were sometimes about me or you, or even James", Harry explained. "She would even get night terrors sometimes, and when I asked her about them, she would tell me about Voldemort murdering her. She would even describe how I was standing in the cot crying."

Snape was completely blown away by what Harry was saying. He sat in shock with his mouth hanging open and stared at Harry. After an unusually long pause. Harry started to feel uncomfortable.

"Hello", Harry said as he waved his hand in front of Snape's face, but he didn't budge. "You there?" Harry asked, puzzled.

When he still didn't get a response from Snape, he took hold of his shoulders and gave him a light shake. By now Snape snapped out of it, shaking his head as if to get rid of his thoughts.

"I had a fight with Lily", Snape started out of nowhere. "She saved me and I got angry with her. I called her a mudblood", Snape said looking down in shame. "It's my fault that we went our separate ways, and then she met James. I've never been able to forgive myself for losing her over such a trivial fight", he said.

"It's not your fault", Harry said, and moved closer to Snape to give him a hug.

Snape put out his arms to stop Harry. Ignoring Snape's protest, Harry wrapped his arms around Snape and pulled him tight, rocking him back and forth.

"I chose not to be with her", Snape said, tears streaming down his face. "I chose to go in a different direction and ended up going down a dark path. I could have had a completely different life had I just chosen to stay with her. That's all that I wanted in life, was to be with her. But I was too much of a coward to admit it to myself."

Harry heard a rustling sound in the grass behind him, then two small hands appeared.

Harry looked up and saw Lily standing next to him, wrapping her arms around Snape. He looked over at Snape who was staring in amazement at Lily's face. Harry backed away to give the two some space. Snape noticed that Lily's eyes were just as he had remembered them to be, a beautiful shade of deep green.

"I am so sorry for…"

"Shhh", Lily hushed stopping Snape from finishing his sentence. "I know", she added, placing her fingers on his lips. "I have been watching over you for all these years", she whispered.

"You have been watching over me?" Snape frowned.

"Yes, of course", Lily answered. "We were friends, and that meant something to me."

"But I was so nasty to you", Snape said, his eyes filling up with tears again.

Lily wiped the tears from his face with her hand.

"That was a long time ago", she said. "I know you didn't mean it." She paused and stared into Snape's eyes. "I wanted to thank you."

"For what?" Snape asked.

"I wanted to thank you for looking out for my son the way you did. It did not go unnoticed. I think my grandchildren are lucky to have someone like you around, in whatever form that may be."

They sat in silence for a moment, allowing Lily's words to sink in. She opened her hand to reveal a little, white flower in her palm, which started to open up. Remembering the first time that they had met, Snape plucked a straw from the ground and it fluttered over to Lily.

"Lay with me", she said flinging herself onto the ground, face up, staring into the sky.

Snape lay down next to her.

"We are running out of time", she whispered. "I must go soon."

"What do you mean?" Snape asked desperately, raising himself up on his elbows and peering over at Lily. He noticed that her eyes were flickering slightly.

"I will always keep you in my heart", she said.

"Wait", Snape said, grabbing her hand.

She reached up and stroked Snape across the cheek.

"Goodbye, Snape", she whispered.

"No! Don't leave me", he cried out.

Snape stared at Lily and desperately hoped that she would not disappear. Then he noticed her eyes changed from a deep shade of green to a golden brown.

"I can't lose you twice", he said, stroking Lily's hand.

"Where am I?" Lily asked, looking around in confusion. Catching sight of Harry, she pulled her hand away from Snape and ran towards her father. She jumped into Harry's arms. Harry gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, then put her back down on the ground.

"You should run on home to mummy", Harry said.

Lily gave him a nod then skurried off through the field in the direction of the house. Harry walked over to Snape who had tears streaming down his cheeks. He knelt down next to him and took him into his arms.

"Don't cry", Harry pleaded, and started rocking Snape back and forth in a soothing motion and stroking his head.

"What should I do with this?" Snape said finally once he had pulled himself together. He opened his hand to reveal the potion that Harry had given to him. "If I take it, I may miss out on starting over with Lily. However, if she is really gone for good…" he trailed off. Snape thought about what Lily had said, thanking him for looking out for Harry and his children. He opened the flask and brought it to his lips. Then hesitated. He took a deep breath and looked out, over the ocean. He then looked at the open flask that he was holding, raising his arm up he threw the flask to the ground, making the potion spill out onto the grass.

"I can't keep running from my past", he muttered watching the potion seep into the ground.

Satisfied with Snape's decision, Harry gave him a big smile.

"Okay, get up", Harry said stretching out his arm to help Snape to his feet. "Come over here", he said motioning to Snape to walk towards him.

Snape took a few steps, and to his surprise, he did so without any difficulty.

"What's going on?" Snape said in disbelief. "I can walk", he said looking up at Harry, a broad smile making it's way across his face.

"This was a test", Harry said.

"What for?" Snape asked.

"Each petal of this sign", Harry began to explain pulling out the spell book and pointing to the sign on the page. "It represents a task which you must overcome. The first petal represents forgiveness, you are meant to forgive everyone, including yourself for anything that happened in your past life. The second petal represents recognition. For this task, you must recognize the walls you have built within you and break them down so that you can be more honest about your feelings. The third petal represents a new power that you must discover for yourself. When I was doing my apprenticeship, I had to go through a similar thing. My master guided me through the steps and the power that appeared was that of a phoenix. In a sense I am half phoenix, and my core element is fire. That is why you may have noticed that my eyes looked as if they were on fire when I did the spell. What this means is that I can transfigure. Me and my wand are as one, and that is why my wand can change into a scepter."

Snape had no words, so he just sat and listened.

"Move back a little", Harry said, waving Snape backwards.

Harry closed his eyes and held his wand with both hands in front of his face. Snape was so focused on the wand that was rapidly changing shape and growing into a scepter that he didn't notice the wings that were appearing on Harry's back. Once the scepter had reached full size, Harry looked over at Snape. Snape could see that Harry had changed, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. He saw that his hair had gone short all of a sudden, but what was it that was so different? he wondered. Then with a swift move Harry spread out his two wings. The bright red feathers with yellow tips, stretched out around him casting a shadow over Snape. Then the wings wrapped around Harry making him disappear inside them. When the wings opened up, Snape saw that Harry had completely changed. His ears had grown pointy and his legs looked like those of a phoenix with large sharp claws on the end of them. In utter amazement, Snape reached out his hand to touch Harry but pulled back, not sure whether it was okay.

"Go ahead", Harry said, holding on to his scepter in one hand.

Snape reached out once more and touched the golden feathers covering Harry's back.

He glided his fingers across the feathers, feeling their softness under his fingertips.

"What is your wand's core?" Harry asked.

"I don't know", Snape answered. "I was only eleven when I got it", he added when he saw Harry's puzzled look.

"Well, you won't know what you become then", he said. "My wand had a phoenix feather, which is why I become half phoenix. Neville Longbottom's wand has a unicorn hair at it's core, so he became half unicorn", Harry explained.

"So I am half something that I don't even know about?" Snape asked.

"Yes, but I guess we will soon find out."

"No, I don't think I want to do that", Snape said worriedly.

"What? Of course you will do it", Harry said in surprise.

"But we don't even know what will happen to me."

"All the more reason to try", Harry answered sternly.

The two of them stood in silence for a moment as Snape considered his next move. Then Harry nudged him and pointed.

"Look", he said, pointing at Snape's wand, which was rising up into the air. "It's already happening, there isn't much you can do about it", he added and took a few steps back from Snape.

There was a black mist forming around the wand, swirling and twisting as the wand grew larger. Snape could see that it was beginning to change shape. A black animal started to appear. It grew larger and larger until it was the size of a fully grown horse. As the fog lifted from around the animal, Harry and Snape could see it more clearly. Snape stood frozen in his tracks looking at the beautiful black horse. It looked over and stared Snape in the eyes. It gave its head a shake then it stretched out two large wings from its back.

"It's a Pegasus", Snape heard Harry whisper to himself.

Hypnotized by its beauty, Snape stretched out his arm to touch it. His fingers were sailing through the air, closer towards the Pegasus' hair. Just as he was about to touch it, the Pegasus took off into the sky.

"Where is it going? Snape asked turning around to look at Harry.

"You are going to have to find it at catch it", Harry explained.

"But how", Snape cried out. "I don't even have my wand. Did it somehow slip by you that it turned into a Pegasus and flew off!" Snape said, becoming irritated.

"When my wand became a Phoenix, I had to catch it as well, just like you are going to have to do. It took me forty weeks to catch it. There were many times when I came so close to catching it but it flew off at the last moment. It is the final task for a reason", Harry explained. "It's the hardest one."

"Great", Snape said sarcastically.

Harry pulled out a lunch bag which he had packed earlier that morning and threw it over to Snape.

"Good luck", Harry said.

"But what about Noah?" Snape asked.

"That can wait...for four days", he added. "So try to be quick about it", he said.

Harry gave him a wave then spread his wings and took off. Snape reached out towards the sky as if to try and stop Harry from leaving but quickly realized it was in vain. He instinctively grabbed his wand, then realized that it was sailing through the skies somewhere.

Three days had past without any luck. Snape had emptied the lunch bag on his second day. By now, his stomach was growling so loudly that Snape found it hard to concentrate. He was starving. The only thing he had managed to find that was edible were a few unripe berries. He sat down in the moss and leaned his back up against a tree to rest his feet for a few minutes. What he didn't know, however, was that up in the trees, he had an audience. Harry and Neville had been secretly trailing him for the past few days to make sure he didn't get himself into too much trouble. Harry sat himself down on a tree branch dangling a leg off the edge. His wings lay close up against his back and he leaned his scepter against one shoulder and was flipping through a newspaper his other hand. He paused when he came to the housing section. Now that his family had sort of grown by one person, it might not be such a bad idea to look for a larger place to live, he thought to himself.

Earlier that morning, Ginny had also suggested the idea of moving. When everyone was home, there were six people in the house. He ran his eyes carefully across the page and circled a house he thought might be worth looking into. Neville was standing on a branch a little further down the tree peering between the leaves at Snape down below. He was holding his scepter which looked like a tree branch with ivy growing around it in spirals, overlapping one another. He was watching Snape who was clearly miserable and starving. Feeling sorry for him, Neville muttered a few words. Down below, Snape heard a rustling sound behind him. He spun around hoping it was the Pegasus. There was no Pegasus to be seen. However, there was a fair sized apple tree bearing dozens of apples on it. Snape was surprised that he hadn't noticed the tree sooner. Without hesitation, he ran over to the tree and picked some apples for himself. He stuffed his lunch bag full then plunked himself down where he had been sitting and bit into one. He devoured it in a matter of seconds and soon enough devoured next apple. Harry stood up on his branch.

"Neville!" He whispered. "I'm leaving, I'll be back later."

Neville waved his hand towards Harry signaling that he heard him. He wasn't particularly interested in what Harry was up to. Harry flew back towards Hogwarts. He landed on the grounds and went back to his regular human self. As he walked through the front door of his house, he called Ginny and Lily. Once they had all gathered around the fireplace, Harry showed them the house he had been looking at.

"Should we go and take a look?" he asked, looking at Ginny.

"I don't see why not", she said, smiling back at Harry.

"Great, let's go", Harry said and climbed into the fireplace.

He grabbed a handful of floo powder.

"Our Harwich home", he called out and threw the floo powder around his feet. Green flames engulfed him and he disappeared from the fireplace. He reappeared in the fireplace of his house in Harwich. Lily and Ginny followed close behind him.

That night, back in the Forbidden Forest, Snape was creeping through the dark. He was stalking the Pegasus which was grazing on a patch of grass a few feet away. His plan was to sneak up behind it to catch it by surprise. He snuck up to it, inching closer and closer. When there were only a few feet between them, he threw himself at the Pegasus, grabbing it around the neck and holding on for dear life. The Pegasus was so surprised by the attack that it rose up on its hind legs and started thrashing his head around, shaking the intruder off. Snape's hands slipped and he lost grip of the Pegasus. He managed to grab onto its mane, but the Pegasus managed to fling him off. Flying a few meters through the air, Snape finally hit the ground and rolled off into a lake that was at the bottom of a small embankment. The water gripped onto him, pulling him under with force. Snape finally managed to reach the surface. He gasped for air and looked around catching sight of the Pegasus just as it suddenly turned into water, slipping down the hill and into the lake. There was a brief moment of silence after the Pegasus had slid into the water. Then, there was a huge splash right next to him as the Pegasus broke the surface. It started kicking at Snape who was trying to avoid the blows. Large tentacles started rising out of the water all around him, trying to grab Snape. Snape managed to avoid the tentacles, swimming as hard as he could towards the Pegasus. He flung his arms around the Pegasus' neck, holding on tighter than ever before. He put his forehead up against the Pegasus' forehead, and just then Snape heard a whisper in his ear.

"Call my name."

Snape was startled and looked into the Pegasus' eyes. Again he heard the whisper. This time, he was absolutely sure it was coming from the Pegasus.

"Call my name", it said again, staring right back at Snape.

His heart was racing and he was started to notice how cold he was. He was soaking wet in the middle of a lake. What name? He thought to himself. Then out of nowhere, and without thinking, he blurted out "Yue"! The name had just come to him as he stared into the creature's eyes.

The water began to vibrate all around them. Drops started floating up into the air in spirals all around. They started twisting faster and faster until Snape felt himself and the Pegasus float up into the air, out of the cold water. In the air, the water droplets started forming a dome around the two of them, engulfing them in a bulb of water. Snape felt his hands and feet tingling. He curled into a ball to try and stop the sensation from penetrating his whole body. He clenched his eyes shut and held his breath hoping for this weird phenomenon to come to an end. Then the bubble burst. Snape came crashing down, the ground coming closer and closer to him. Then, as if it were the most logical thing to do, Snape spread his wings and glided down to the ground. His eyes were open so wide with surprise that they felt as if they may pop out of his skull. In amazement, he spread out his wings and peered over his shoulder at the black feathered wings with their navy blue tips. He slowly turned his head and peered down at his body, almost too nervous to find out what had happened to him. As he looked down, he saw that he was dressed in a jacket with a fabric belt tied around his waist. A small golden chain hung close to his neck holding together some sort of cape. His legs now had two large hooves on the end of them and beside his hooves lay a long flowing tail. It move around slowly on the ground in a strange, floating way, almost as if it where made from liquid. He touched his hair which was still the same shade of black. Now, it had navy blue tips. When he let it go, it floated around in the air as if it were in water. He walked over to the edge of the lake and looked down into the water to see his reflection. When he peered down, he saw his own deep blue eyes glistening like the ocean. A pair of pointy ears stuck out from underneath his hair. Snape's fingers were beginning to ache, he had been so preoccupied by his appearance that he had failed to notice the scepter that he was gripping on to. It was blue with water droplets floating around the top which was a large water like ball with a Pegasus feather in the midst of it. Where the water bubble met the handle of the Scepter it glowed yellow. The bottom half of the bubble looked like a half moon which cradled the Pegasus feather within.

Snape heard a rustling sound behind him. He turned to see what was causing the noise. He saw that the branches of the trees were parting. They were untangling one from the other and started to lower themselves down towards the ground. In the middle of the greenery stood Neville Longbottom. He was not his usual self. Rather, he looked half unicorn with a horn sticking out of his forehead. He had his long hair flowing down to his waist with little leaves scattered around in it. He was wearing what looked like armer across his chest made of thin curling branches. His legs didn't look too dissimilar to Snape's with hooves, and he was wearing a similar fabric belt around his waist.

"Well done", Neville said, walking over to Snape.

"Did I do it?" Snape asked excitedly. "Have I succeeded?"

"Of course you have succeeded", Neville said with a chuckle. "Have you seen yourself?" he added sarcastically.

"Great", Snape said with a smile on his face. He paused and looked down at himself and the smile started to fade as something dawned on him. "How do I go back to normal?" he asked with a worried look upon his face.

Without answering Snape's question, Neville gripped his scepter and closed his eyes tightly. Then, the branches and leaves which had been lying on the ground around him started to rise up and form a dome around him. Neville's hair started to go shorter, his scepter began to shrink, and his whole body started to change. As the dome crumbled away, Snape saw that Neville was back to his old self with only a wand in his hand.

"How did you do that?" Snape asked, relieved to see that he could go back to his old self.

"You had to believe", Neville said.

Snape closed his eyes and held onto his scepter as he tried as hard as he could to change himself back to normal. For a few moments nothing happened but then all of a sudden water started to form around him, engulfing him in a large bubble. once the water had disappeared again, Snape looked down at himself. He saw that he was back to a human body.

"Ehemm", Neville cleared his throat and pointed at Snape's head.

He ran his hand across the top of his hair and felt two ears still poking out from his head.

"What?" Snape said in disappointment. "How can this be?" He clenched his fists and glared up at Neville.

"Settle down", Neville said soothingly. "You will have to learn how to control it properly, just like Harry and I both had to do. It will come with time, don't worry."

Snape sighed in disappointment. He clenched back his eyes one more time, took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as he could on the ears. Slowly but surely, they started receding back down. At last, they disappeared completely. Feeling very proud of himself, he opened his eyes again and looked at Neville, who gave him an approving smile.

"But why water?" Snape asked.

"Because that is your core element. When you captured the Pegasus, you were surrounded by water, causing it to become your element. When I captured my unicorn I did so in the woods, surrounded by nature, which is why my core element is earth."

As Snape was listening to Neville explain the elements, he started to feel very faint. He could feel the blood drain from his face and he had a pounding headache.

"I'm not feeling to good", he stuttered. "What's going on?"

"Oh, I should have warned you", Neville said. "The first time you change yourself like that, you get very sick. However, the more you do it, the less it will affect you."

Snape opened his mouth to answer Neville but didn't manage to get any words out before he fainted into Neville's arms. Neville slung Snape across his shoulder then pried his wand loose from his fingers and stuck it in his pocket to keep it safe. He carried Snape out of the Forbidden Forest and towards Hogwarts.


End file.
